The mysteries of Carnaval are only beginning to begin to unfurl for me. I gather that it is different everywhere. The main place to be for Carnaval in Bolivia is Oruro, but I still needed some acclimatization time, so I didn’t spend a rather long day going there. Instead, I just slowly walked around La Paz and enjoyed the start of their Carnaval.
One of the hotel employees illuminated things for me a bit… today is children’s day, tomorrow is a modern celebration and Monday is more traditional. I don’t think I quite understood about Tuesday. Today (and since I got here), kids were wandering around town with water guns and cans of spray foam which seems to be the same stuff you might use to smother a fire. The main event was down on the main street (Av. 16 de julio) where there were millions (okay maybe thousands) of kids of all ages and their parents in costumes or masks or both wielding water balloons, water guns and spray foam cans. They were, of course, trying to “get” each other and it was quite entertaining to watch, and unless you had children with you, you would only receive collateral fire. I think there was also a parade of some sort down the main avenue, but I didn’t stick around to watch. The funniest thing I saw was water coming from a vehicle on a side street, and they must have hit the wrong person because they got it back inside the vehicle tenfold with foam. Everyone was laughing and smiling and having a great time, even the people receiving over spray. Many were wearing rain jackets.
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| Looking toward the main avenue from the San Francisco Church plaza. |
I also got a haircut for $4 (including the tip) which was just as good or better than any haircut I ever got. The barber and his assistant or boss (not really sure) were very entertaining and also asking me questions which was great because I got to practice more Spanish. I’m actually starting to understand Spanish now, I’m finding, so it is good that there aren’t a lot of people who speak English down here.
In the late afternoon, there was some electrostatic energy coming over the mountains and it sounded quite amazing as it echoed and crackled and sounded like it was right above you, which it probably was. I was safely in my hotel room enjoying it.
I think my altitude headache has mostly gone away, so I might be ready for a little more action tomorrow.
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